Power restorations in Tampa Bay plagued by downed trees following Hurricane Milton

Power restoration efforts continue after Milton

Evan Axelbank reports

TAMPA, Fla. - The fight to get power back on to hundreds of thousands of customers in the Tampa Bay area is now in its fifth day. Those without power are likely victims of trees that have fallen on lines near their homes.

Lineworkers in Holmes Beach were cleaning up the mess after a transformer blew on Gulf Boulevard, putting them back in the dark, after just one night of having power.

"They're hoping to get it back for us today," said Lynne Erdle of Holmes Beach. "That's all we can hope for. They're working hard."

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They're among the tens of thousands of lineworkers who have descended on Florida since Hurricane Milton hit.

Florida Power and Light said they have restored 450,000 customers, but still have 60,000 to go. The repair of the lines on Gulf Boulevard will bring 72 customers back online.

"Getting this online is super important for this area because then we can continue to flow energy through the rest of the island," said Marshall Hastings with FPL.

TECO said it has met its goal of getting power back to the vast majority of customers in Pasco and Polk counties, and that it has also hit its own goal of hitting the 75% mark in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties by Tuesday night.

MORE: When will Bay Area schools reopen after Hurricane Milton?

However, they still have 165,000 without power, or about 20% of their customers. Their main battle is putting lines back up that trees were blown onto.

"It does catch customers' attention when suddenly they see [their] neighbors across the street, their lights are on, their own lights are not," said TECO CEO Archie Collins. "[They ask] ‘did you forget about me?’ No. We haven't forgotten about you. You're more than likely on a different circuit."

Duke Energy is still about 85,000 customers away from having everyone in Pinellas County restored, but is nearing their goal of having everyone back up by Tuesday night.

"You don't realize it till you go to do something, and then you're like, 'well, I don't have electricity,'" said Lisa Barbour of Holmes Beach. "I can't do that. You know, you can't eat. You can't get cool."

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